Tag "pepe escobar"

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times ) by special agreement with the author) Facing China’s irresistible rise all across the chessboard, and under relentless US pressure, the not exactly democratic EU leadership is on a backbreaking exercise to position itself between a geopolitical/geoeconomic rock and a hard place. The 28-member EU holds a crucial meeting next week in Brussels where it may adopt a 10-point action plan detailing,

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times ) by special agreement with the author) All roads seem to lead to Rome as Italy expresses its love for China’s Belt and Road Initiative President Xi Jinping is due to arrive in Italy for an official visit on March 22. The top theme of discussion will be the New Silk Road, or the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A day earlier,

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Contrary to Western doom and gloom interpretations, China’s two sessions now taking place in Beijing offer a fascinating mix of realpolitik and soft power. Every year, the two sessions involve the National People’s Congress (NPC) – the legislative body – and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – the political advisory body – laying down the Chinese equivalent of

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) We all lose by not having Eric Hobsbawm absorb the geopolitical dementia of the early 21st century to later refine it in sharp, crisp historical analysis. A new, exhaustive biography, ‘Eric Hobsbawm: A Life in History,’ by his former student and Regius Professor of History Emeritus at Cambridge, Richard Evans – out now in the UK and in

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Turning and turning in a widening gyre, the geopolitics of the young 21st century resembles a psychedelic mandala conceived by Yama, the Lord of Death. Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, fresh from a 70-hour train journey, meets in prosperous, communist Hanoi with fellow Nobel Peace Prize contender Donald Trump under the

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) President Putin’s state of the nation address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow this week was an extraordinary affair. While heavily focused on domestic social and economic development, Putin noted, predictably, the US decision to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty and clearly outlined the red lines in regard to possible consequences of the move. It

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) A new report on US policy toward China launched by the Asia Society in New York is another example of how supposedly bipartisan US intellectual elites, instead of offering impartial advice, do little more than parrot Washington’s talking points, failing to admit they know nothing of substance about the existential “threats” posed by Russia and China.

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) On the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, this past Friday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei made an effort to express Iran’s geopolitical stance in simple terms: ‘We have good relations with all nations in the world, we don’t want to break relations with any European nation’, and an explanation of the slogan ‘Death to America’. The

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Get over it: Asia rules New book helps explain why the 21st Century will be the Asian Century The greatest merit of Parag Khanna’s new book, The Future is Asian, is to accessibly tell the story of a historical inevitability – with the extra bonus of an Asian point of view. This is not only a

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with Strategic Culture Foundation by special agreement with the author) Cold War 2.0 has hit South America with a bang – pitting the US and expected minions against the four key pillars of in-progress Eurasia integration: Russia, China, Iran and Turkey. It’s the oil, stupid. But there’s way more than meets the (oily) eye. Caracas has committed the ultimate cardinal sin in the eyes of Exceptionalistan;

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Bolsonaro scandal puts Brazil on edge as farmers eye Amazon forests A specter haunts the Brazilian elites. His name is Lula – the former president and for the past nine months one of the world’s most notorious political prisoners, given his enormous popularity and the controversy over his conviction and jailing. Brazil, until recently a leader

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) An exclusive interview with former Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim on how BRICS came into being, how the nuclear deal was done with Tehran and how the South dealt with Chavez Brazil is once again in the eye of a political hurricane, after President Jair Bolsonaro’s appearance at Davos and explosive revelations directly linking his clan

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) Crimea is essential to Russia strategically and economically, but speculation over Ankara helping to boost the US presence in the Black Sea is far-fetched given Turkey’s energy deals with Moscow. A power struggle over the Black Sea between Russia and the US plus NATO has the potential to develop as a seminal plot of the 21st

by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times – here and here – by special agreement with the author) The new Great Game on the Roof of the World On top of the graceful Baltit Fort, overlooking the Hunza Valley’s Shangri-La-style splendor, it’s impossible not to feel dizzy at the view: an overwhelming collision of millennia of geology and centuries of history. We are at the heart of Gilgit-Baltistan, in

by Pepe Escobar exclusive for The Saker Blog Rostislav Ishchenko is arguably the leading international analyst focused on the extraordinarily turbulent Russia-Ukraine relations. He posts regularly on Ukraina.ru, with frequent English translations here. In contrast to the 24/7 “Russian aggression” demonization campaign effective on all corners of the Beltway and spreading towards selected European capitals, Ishchenko’s analysis, for instance of the information war deployed on all fronts of the Russia-Ukraine

Washington insists sanctions will remain until Russia returns the peninsula to Ukraine, but this will never happen. For Moscow, Crimea is back to where it belongs, and this is a region that has seen conquerors come and go for centuries by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) We are at the remains of Panticapaeum, the capital of the Kingdom of Bosphorus, founded in

Russia is keen to push economic integration with parts of Asia and this fits in with China’s Belt and Road Initiative by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) The concept of Greater Eurasia has been discussed at the highest levels of Russian academia and policy-making for some time. This week the policy was presented at the Council of Ministers and looks set to

Professor Hasan Unal, a top political scientist based in Istanbul, explains the geopolitics of his region, the eastern Mediterranean and into the Black Sea by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) When Vladimir Putin visited President Erdogan’s lavish new $500-million presidential palace in Ankara, he had one thing to say: “I’m very impressed.” Professor Hasan Unal, savoring the dry humor, derives as much pleasure

The West is complaining about Russian ‘aggression’ but the incident looks more like a cheap ploy by a desperate Ukrainian president and US conservatives keen to undermine Trump’s next pow-wow with Putin by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) When the Ukrainian navy sent a tugboat and two small gunboats on Sunday to force their way through the Kerch Strait into the Sea

The House of Saud’s ties to the Khashoggi slaying are being milked by the Turkish President for maximum benefit amid debate on leadership of the Islamic world and how the crisis may affect US and Saudi strategy in the Middle East by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) It was packaged as a stark, graphic message, echoing across Eurasia: Presidents Erdogan and Putin,

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